Despite of the relevant progresses done in the last years by the EU Legislative systems for social and employment inclusion for blind and visually impaired and the new professional opportunities offered to this peculiar category of job-seekers by the most advanced assistive ICTs for work, their current unemployment rates are still substantially high. It is due to several structural reasons such as: -Different definitions of “disability“ and “blindness & visual impairment” from one EU country to another, different types of social security systems, employment regulations and economic situations, making difficult for disabled workers free circulate in EU Labor Market -Medium-long term periods spent by blind and VI job-seekers on Employment Exchange Services lists, compared with the other workers -Lack or fragmentary information, not homogeneously widespread among EU countries, about new professional or training opportunities for VIP due to the last assistive ICTs and different level of their knowledge, circulation and adoption in work-places. So, RADAR aims to tackle the difficult issues related to unemployment rates of blind and VIP in Eu, contributing to fill the lack of information about new opportunities provided by the Labor Market for them and improving the knowledge on current training chances linked to accessibility systems in use and new employment areas. Getting info also on these chances is an essential premise for blind and VIP to create their personal path of growth and professional development. Starting from these premises, the project acts directly on 2 of the main actors engaged with the approaching and work-placing process for VIP in the Labor Market: Employers and Operators in charge of employment and job-application services (e.g. career guidance professionals, mentors, etc.), both in private or public Offices for Work & VET Inclusion Policies. RADAR provides for specific actions and products (Intellectual Outputs) aimed to: -Make Employers more aware about VIP employability issues, showing working tasks and professional roles which could be covered by them and giving information about standards/technological requirements necessary for their optimal working conditions; -Enhance quality of VET Guidance Services & Work-Placement for blind and partially sighted job-seekers, improving the sectoral competences of their related operators. They will gain more deepen knowledge about new learning opportunities and emerging professions coverable also by VIP thanks to the continuous development/diffusion of ICTs for accessibility and support. Thanks to the large use of these ICTs, indeed, the traditional range of VIP employment can be widen to working roles or tasks considered not accessible, till today -Improve the competences of trainers, educators, teachers, support teachers and tutors for better managing specific training and working needs of VIP -Focus a package of peculiar competences for employers, guidance professionals, Labor Services operators, trainers and educators that could be an innovative reference to train/prepare them to effectively deal with blind and VIP needs. RADAR’s main Outputs are: I.O1 TRAINING-EMPLOYABILITY-ACCESSIBILITY FRAMEWORK: general comparison framework of VIP work placement and social inclusion procedures, describing –for each involved country-weaknesses, strengths and development lines of accessibility and VET Services through a detailed study of Employers and Labor Services Operators peculiar needs and the more requested professional profiles (or competences) coverable also by blind and VI job-seekers with the last assistive ICTs; I.O2 SPECIAL GUIDELINES FOR EMPLOYERS: targeted lines about new roles and working tasks potentially coverable by VIP using last assistive ICTs, to promote the culture of accessibility on the work-place, including an overview on duties and benefits in hiring; I.O3 OPERATIVE GUIDELINES FOR VET AND CAREER GUIDANCE OPERATORS – highly operational lines for employment and job-application services operators to be aware of the most adequate strategies to approach/manage the peculiar needs of VI job-seekers, knowing the current available training opportunities (e.g. training courses, internships, etc) and innovative elements for their effective work placement. These Guidelines’ contents can be useful also for trainers/teachers, support teachers, educators, families: it is not to forget that families and educative professionals have a key role in leading their blind and partially sighted relatives towards a personal and professional growing path. All the Outputs will be available as OER (published on partners’ websites also with accessibility requirements) to guarantee their widest circulation & spread not only among the involved organizations but even toward all the entrepreneurial actors interested in and other kind of professionals and institutions working in the field of social and working inclusion policies for disadvantage & vulnerable groups.
RADAR involved 4 EU Countries (Italy, Austria, Nederlands, Poland) and aimed to foster the culture of accessibility, inclusion and equal opportunities for blind and partially sighted people in the workplace and within the business process, raising the awareness about the new opportunities offerede by the Labor Market as well as the current training chances linked to accessibility systems in use and new employment areas for this peculiar category. A special attention was paid to the role played by the last assistive ICTs that made ACCESSIBLE many more professional tasks/roles if compared to the traditional ones and to those precautions or best practices - sometimes very simple, not expensive or held thanks to the help of colleagues - that are able to make more comfortable and accessible not only the workstations but also the business applications. The key prerequisite to reach these aims was placed in the need to deepen, expand and improve the knowledge on these issues of all the actors involved in the employability process: entreprenurial subjects, operators in charge of Active Labor policies and partially sighted themselves, who - directly or indirectly - benefited of the tailored knowledge contents offered by the two Guidelines.
RADAR intended to face some of the most relevant issues linked to blind&visually impaired people (VI) employability, by focusing the relevance of spreading the culture of accessibility within the workplace as well as by sustaining a steady updated and inclusive job-placing process that involved all its actors (employers, Active Labor Policies experts, blind/VI users) considering the current socioeconomic and especially technological changes that are leading to the slow disappearing of traditional professions for these users and to the need of a greater/wider knowledge of the opportunities provided by the latest assistive ICTs. Peculiar needs addressed by the project, indeed, were those of: -Employers: business processes low suitable for VI employment, inaccessibility of specific business applications, few info on inclusive hiring and on the rightly equipping (precautions, costs) the workplace -Labor Services Operators: Improvable managing skills to deal with blind&VI users, upgradable knowledge of the new professional tasks/profiles today available for VI due to the last ICTs and of their employability potential due to their use -Blind/VI users: lack of info about current training and working chances linked to new employment areas